Washington: The US Department of Agriculture announced the cancellation of a $3 billion program focused on climate-friendly farming practices, citing misalignment with the Trump administration's priorities.

According to Anadolu Agency, the program, called Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities (PCSC), was initially introduced during President Joe Biden's term. The Department of Agriculture, after a comprehensive review, concluded that many projects under the initiative involved excessive administrative costs, which reduced the direct financial benefits to farmers. "Following a thorough line by line review of each of these Biden era partnerships, it became clear that the majority of these projects had sky-high administration fees which in many instances provided less than half of the federal funding directly to farmers," the department stated.

Some elements of the program might continue if it's demonstrated that a substantial portion of the funding benefits farmers directly. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins criticized the initiative, describing it as being designed to favor non-governmental organizations over American farmers. The PCSC aimed to support practices like planting vegetation to prevent erosion and optimizing nutrient management to reduce farming's environmental impact.

The Biden administration had anticipated that the program would engage over 60,000 farmers and achieve a reduction of more than 60 million metric tons of emissions. However, on his first day back in office, President Trump signed an executive order withdrawing the US from the Paris Climate Agreement and issued another to encourage domestic coal production, reversing key climate policies from Biden's term.